The last but not the last
by airbendereternal
Summary: Hera leads a far from normal life. Losing most of her memory, living with a king who is a bit loony and blue mark which a headband hides. Will questions be answered, past remembered and perhaps a hidden bending discovered.
1. Chapter 1

She wandered through the streets of Omashu not sure of where to go. Lost in deep thought Hera walked on then unexpectedly she tripped and found herself crashing into a cabbage cart.

"My cabbages! You're going to pay for this" the cabbage merchant threatened.

Some solders came to see what all the commotion was about.

"A cabbage please? "Hera asked meekly.

* * *

As the guards entered with the cabbage merchant and a young girl King Bumi looked at the people in front of him, his eyes rested on the solemn girl with a headband and an unusual eye colour, grey.

"This young one was arrested for malicious destruction of cabbages" the guard explained.

Beside him the cabbage merchant was fuming, the guards were awaiting orders while the girl was just watching silently.

"Hmm, lead her to a guest chamber" the king decided.

The cabbage merchant face palmed while the girl raised one of her eyebrows.

* * *

After a while Bumi found the room he was looking for and he earthbended a door. He found the girl sitting near a window looking out.

"Nice view, isn't it?" Bumi said.

Hera just nodded.

"So tell me, where are you from?" he asked.

"Not sure" Hera muttered.

"Can we higher the volume?" Bumi said slightly annoyed at her quietness, he knew when he was her age he wouldn't be able to keep serious and quiet for such a long time.

"I don't remember" she admitted.

That earned her a slightly surprised look.

"Now that's something you don't find every day" Bumi acknowledged "How much do you don't remember?"

"Almost all of my life before the last three days" she told him sadly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes then Bumi broke the silence.

"Well then we'll just have to do something about it" then he smiled, "It's settled you can live here since you have nowhere to go"

This time he earned a very surprised and grateful look from Hera.

Bumi chuckled softly at that and asked.

"Now what's your name?"

"Hera" she replied fiddling with a stray lock of black hair.

"Well thank the spirits you at least remember your name" Bumi said cheerfully.

"Actually I don't, Hera isn't my real name" she sighed.


	2. Chapter 2

A week past and Bumi began to wonder if Hera actually knew how to have fun for she was very silent and definitely didn t seem to be mischievous at all. Something had to be done so Bumi began to think of ways to bring some fun to her.

"There you are I was looking for you Bumi said when he found Hera, "Would you like to meet my pet flopsie?"

Hera looked at him suspiciously she knew well enough that there had to be catch to this.

"Now don't look at me like that, it's not like I have a vicious platypus-bear for a pet Bumi protested.

Before Hera could reply he was already leading her to a large room with a large rocky pit and sitting on a rock was a white bunny.

* * *

"This is where flopsie lives, why don't you go down" suggested Bumi.

"Ok, I guess" still not quite believing that flopsie was just a normal bunny.

With that I jumped down landing lightly on her feet and was about to go to the bunny when a large shadow appeared behind her, I gulped turning around to see a huge goat-gorilla. Spirits help me..."

I decided that this was a good time to run while the goat-gorilla seemed to decide to chase me. I ran as fast as I could but did not seem to be able to lose him then I found myself facing a wall with the beast behind me.  
Then I heard laughter followed by a snort I looked in the direction of it and saw Bumi who apparently was having a good time watching.

How could he I was getting chased by a goat-gorilla and a big one and he was laughing. Then it hit me, that bunny wasn't flopsie it was the goat-gorilla in front of me and sure enough it didn't attack me when it cornered me it licked me.

I smiled "flopsie, you sure are big"

"Well he's a goat-gorilla after all" Bumi laughed.

I glared at him which just made him laugh even more. I ll get back at you somehow I silently promised.

* * *

Most people didn't notice that all the ceilings in the palace imitated a ceiling of cave which had stalactites(which weren't too big) and small pits which worked as hand and foot holds because they were high but that didn't stop Hera from finding a use for them.  
"Now where is that child" Bumi said to himself unaware of Hera stalking him from above useing the stalactites and ledges to climb the ceiling without falling. When the moment was she let go and landed quietly on her feet behind Bumi. She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Not now, I'm looking for someone" Bumi told her thinking she was one of the guards.

She tapped him on the shoulder again.

Annoyed Bumi turned around asking "Oh what is-" he yelped and jumped back upon seeing it wasn't one of the guards.

"Spirits, how did you manage to sneak up on me like that" he asked Hera who was trying to stifle a laugh.

Bumi couldn't help but laugh as well.

"At least we know you know how to have fun as well" he said.

"Think fast!" Bumi yelled propelling a boulder towards me. Instinctively, I jumped going up a few feet then finding myself clinging to the ceiling like I had when I was stalking Bumi. I looked down to see if the danger was over only then I realised that I had jumped to the ceiling which was at least fifty feet up resulted in me falling.

"Ow..." I mumbled.

"I knew it you re an airbender" Bumi said gleefully.

"What!" I exclaimed getting up.

"Why do you wear your headband all the time?" he asked.

"Because I have strange blue arrow tattoos" I grumbled still thinking this was a joke.

"Exactly!" Bumi exclaimed cheerfully

Now I was confused what is this crazy king talking about.

Seeing my puzzled face he explained as we walked down the corridor "Those blue arrow tattoos are airbender tattoos which means you re a master airbender"

We walked in silence as I thought about this discovery and surprisingly I was starting to remember a few moves.

"I'm starting to remember those moves now" I told him. "But how do you now all this?"

"Oh, I had an airbending friend, Aang"


	3. Chapter 3

In a few days Hera remembered all her airbending moves but sadly nothing else. One day she was climbing the ceiling hoping to scare Bumi again while he was on his throne when some guards came with the cabbage merchant who seemed angry again.  
What does he want now? I was already annoyed with that cabbage loving merchant. Then I saw three kids come in as well. Two of them looked like they are from one of the water tribe while the other had- wait a second his tattoos they are like mine, no it couldn't be...

"Your majesty, these juveniles were arrested for vandalism, travelling under false pretenses and malicious destruction of cabbages" the guard explained.

Here we go again with the cabbages. I was interested to see what was going to happen next so i stayed as quiet as I could up on the ceiling.

"Twice my cabbages have been destroyed this month. Twice!" The merchant cried.

"What is your judgement sire?" the guard asked Bumi.

"Hmm, throw them..." everyone froze including me "A feast"

"What!" I cried and from surprise I let go and fell to the floor.

"Ow..."I grumbled I really should stop falling from the ceiling before I break something.

The cabbage merchant stared in amazement at Bumi decision and at a girl falling down practically from nowhere then glared remembering me.

"What- how- She fell at of nowhere!" the eldest boy out of the three exclaimed.

"Now Hera let's escort our guests to dining hall" Bumi said cheerfully "That is if you haven't broken anything?"

"No I haven't" I said contently already starting to forget that I had fallen from the ceiling.

* * *

"The people in my city have gotten fat from too many feasts, so I hope you like your chicken with no skin" Bumi explained.

"Thanks but I don't eat meat" the boy with tattoos told Bumi.

"Just like young Hera over there she is a vegetarian too" Bumi said.

"Well you and Aang just don't know what you're missing with all that vegetarian stuff" the boy with some kind of pony tail told them.

I frowned slightly, Aang? Wasn't that the name of Bumi's old airbending friend? I glanced at Bumi who seemed to not of heard what the eldest boy said.

"So tell me young bald one where you from?" Bumi asked.

"I'm from...Kangaroo Island" Aang answered.

"Kangaroo Island eh, I hear that place is really hoppin" Bumi said. Silence followed then the ponytail boy started laughing.

"What? It was funny" he objected when Aang and the other girl looked at him.

"Well, all these good jokes are making me tired, time to hit the hay" Bumi said then suddenly he threw a chicken wing at Aang who caught it with airbending.

I smiled, then thought lucky him his test was a chicken wing mine was boulder.

"There's an airbender in our presence and not just any airbender, the avatar!" Bumi said. Aang gasped and stopped airbending.

"Now what do you have to say for yourself, Mister Pippenpableobsocopolis?" he smirked, where did that come from I wondered with an eyebrow raised.

Aang stood up. Ok, you caught me! I'm the avatar, doing my avatar thing keeping the safe. Everything checks out! No firebenders here. So...Good work everybody! See you next time"

I chuckled and took another sip of my drink as the guards stop them from leaving.

"You can't keep us us leave!" the girl yelled defiantly.

"You might want to rethink that" I mumbled finishing my sweet drink.

"Young Hera's right" Bumi confirmed "You might want to rethink that, I could keep you here for as long as I want" he chuckled then cracked a joke about a lettuce leaf.

"Tomorrow the avatar will face three deadly challenges! But for now Hera will show you to your rooms" Bumi explained.

* * *

"The king must trust you if he didn't sent any guards to escort two benders and someone with a boomerang with you" the girl said as we walked to their rooms.

"I have bending to you know" I told her.

"Your bending can't be very powerful you're just a girl" the ponytail boy asked with a hint of an insult.

"Hey watch it, I've reached master stage in my bending" I growled at him.

"Yeah Sokka we don't want any boulders flying in our way" Aang said. I chuckled, they thought I was an earthbender.

" If you're at master stage then you could teach Aang" the girl said.

"Great idea! Will you please?" Aang begged me"

"I don't think so" I said.

"Why not? Afraid that you're not actually as good as you say" Sokka taunted.

"Your just one step away from ending up against that wall" I threatened Sokka.

"Sokka will you please just stop you, don't have to comment on every single element" the girl told Sokka.

"Just saying, what's the point of knowing something if you can't teach it and anyway water isn't as great as you think it is Katara and apparently it gets annoying sometimes"

"You're saying something about bending all the time and makes you think you so great all you have is a boomerang" Katara yelled.

"Ok guys that enough, waterbending's great and your boomerang great, now can you please stop fighting" Aang said to both of them.

"Nice approach master airbender" I told Aang.

"Thanks- wait how do you know I'm a master airbender"

"You have airbending tattoos that mean you re a master, what did you expect?" I asked him.

"Where do you know all this from?" Aang asked suspiciously.

"I had a good teacher" I said then I spotted the room where they were staying. "There's your room and don't try escaping the night watch guards are pretty grumpy, trust me I ran into them once" I told him.

* * *

I went back to Bumi and when I found him he seemed very cheerful a bit too cheerful though for my liking, something's up.

"That was your childhood friend wasn't it" I asked.

"Indeed it was" Bumi confirmed.

"Why didn't you tell him? I questioned him.

"I want to test him, and also get back at him for disappearing on us without warning" Bumi explained.

"Us?"

"Yes Kuzon, I and Aang were good friends"

I smiled, this is going to be interesting.

"Some of the guards found this outside the city walls" Bumi said showing me a staff.

"My glider!" I exclaimed as he gave me it.

"Hera do you mind delivering a message to Gaoling for me" He asked.

"Sure!" I agreed content that I will get a chance to go back into the air.

"Good you should leave tomorrow morning to get that message delivered sooner"


	4. Chapter 4

"Here you go" Bumi said giving Hera a scroll.

"Bye Bumi, see you soon" Hera said.

"Goodbye"

With that I flicked my glider open and took off. It felt so good to be back in the air, I did a couple of summersaults then I flew to a cave just outside the city walls.

I spotted what I was looking for, some of my previous belongings. So when I was on my way again I had my nomad clothing. By next morning I was at Yu Dow and after a little searching I found the building I was looking for. I landed and went over to the gates where some guard stopped me.

"What do you need? a guard said.

"I have a message from King Bumi of Omashu"I explained.

"Alright"

I walked on a curving path with trees and bushes on the side suddenly the ground shook slightly then it burst up throwing me of the path.

"Who are you?" demanded a voice, I looked up and saw a girl in white dress.

"My name is Hera and I come with a message for the Bei Fong family" I explained then used some air to get up.

She frowned then said "Oh. Sorry for attacking you feathers"

"Feathers?"

"Your light very footed"

"Ok, what's your name then" I inquired

"Toph, Toph Bei Fong" she told me as we walked to her house.

"Nice to meet you Toph Bei Fong"

"What's the message about?"

"I don't know, you can read after all you are a Bei Fong and this is for the Bei Fong family"

"I'm blind" she sighed "But not helpless" she added in quickly.

"No, I doubt that" I said with a little chuckle.

Toph smiled then waved me goodbye.

* * *

Back in Omashu in king Bumi's throne room.

"Do you remember Hera?" asked Bumi.

"Yeah, by the way where is she? I haven't seen her at all day yesterday" Katara queried.

"She went to deliver a message to Yu Dow" Bumi explained.

"Oh, alright I was hoping to say goodbye to her" Katara sighed.

"Hera was wondering if she could join your little group she would have asked herself but she went to deliver the message"

"Can't you just send who you normally send to deliver the message" Sokka asked.

"I could have but Hera is much faster"

"Ok" Sokka said confused with how Hera could deliver the message faster.

"Of course she can join us, but if she is in Yu Dow then we'll have to delay our journey to the North Pole for a while" Katara answered.

"Oh don't worry about that, she will be back soon, I'll tell her were you're going and she'll catch up to you" Bumi reassured.

"Alright then" Aang said.

* * *

Next morning I returned to Omashu and found out that Aang and the others were going to the North Pole and was on my way to catch up with them. After a few days I was tired of flying (You would be if you were on a glider 6 days straight) so I decided to walk today through the forest and village but because the forest was pretty much fire nation I got fire nation cloak and put on a hood so no one would see my arrows.

Halfway through the forest I heard a bird tweet but for some reason it didn't feel right and I stopped and I took a step back then bumped into something or someone which pushed me down. I looked up and saw a big, muscly person. I glared at him and tried to get up but something held me down. Another person and this one had hooked swords.

"What are doing in our forest? He demanded.

"I'm just a simple traveller, now would you mind letting me get up I snapped.

The person who pushed me hauled me up and held a firm grip on my shoulders.

"Let me go!" I demanded angrily.

"We got her stuff!" a voice said I saw two more people one of them was holding my staff.

"Good work the Duke and Smellerbee" the one with the hooked swords said.

"Hey! Give that back!"

"No chance" he smirked. I glared at him.

I felt the grip on my shoulders loosen and took the chance. I moved quickly and managed to get my staff back and leapt into the trees.

"Quick! She's getting away"

I ran through the branches also did a few summersaults into other trees then a few arrows were shot pinning me to the trunk.

"No fire nation gets away that easily from us" said the person with hooked swords then he said "Good work Longshot and another person with a bow and arrow came out.

"Fire nation?" I asked. Did they just call me fire nation?

"Did you expect us to think your earth kingdom with your fire nation clothes?" he asked.

I understood now "It's a disguise to get past the fire nation village close to here and apparently I thought this forest was fire nation. Did you think they would be letting someone who's not fire nation pass that easily?" I should have taken my glider today and walk tomorrow.

"How are we supposed to believe you? As far as I know this can be another fire nation trick he said suspiciously.

"Jet I don't think fire nation has grey eyes" Smellerbee pointed out.

"Your right" Jet realized.

The Duke came over and helped me unpin the arrows and then gave me my staff back.

"Thanks" I said.

"Now that we have this misunderstanding solved I should be on my way I said slightly annoyed.


End file.
